What a terrible disaster was the Civil War. I was born and raised in Maryland, a segregated state the significance of which I didn’t comprehend until I was in an all white high school. Then I discovered that not far from where I lived was an all black community. The children wee all bused a long distance to an all black high school on th…
What a terrible disaster was the Civil War. I was born and raised in Maryland, a segregated state the significance of which I didn’t comprehend until I was in an all white high school. Then I discovered that not far from where I lived was an all black community. The children wee all bused a long distance to an all black high school on the other side of the county. The University of Maryland was close to where I lived. Students there every year held so-called minstrel shows. They were very popular in their racial baiting of whites featured with black faces. Funny then but horrific as I matured into understanding about segregated
schools and in every aspect of our segregated society. Thankfully, as I went away to college and graduate school I was part of integrated situations including lasting friendships with black friends. Martin Luther King became the most influential person in my life. Civil rights became my cause including involvement as a Presbyterian minister with other church leaders of all faiths in the civil rights movement In Mississippi. That included a brief stay in the county jail of several of us. Thanks to Heather Cox Richardson, my favorite author these days, for her article above. Her daily articles are the first thing I read every morning.
Your post brought back memories of 70 years ago that are both fond and cringe-worthy. I was born and raised in Rhode Island, a state that was not segregated by law, but was so in practice. I attended a Catholic primary school that lay at the edge of a part of Providence that was rapidly changing to a mostly Black population. Every year the school put on a minstrel show involving all six grades, including my own. We had Mr. Bones, Mr. Interlocutor, the whole shebang. I can't remember if these "End Men" were in blackface or not, but I can remember that their jokes seemed funny, and the skill of these older kids was impressive to a seven-year old boy. The parents in the audience loved it, and the little kids, including me, had fun doing the show.
My England-born mother did have one Black friend, whom I met occasionally, but other than that I had no knowledge of or interaction with Black people. Just that they existed. We later moved to an all-white suburb, and I attended an all-white Catholic high school. It wasn't until I went to college that I had the opportunity to meet and interact with a number of Black students. It was not until then that it occurred to me that the minstrel show in which I had participated so many years before might have been offensive to Black people. This coincided with the rise of the Civil Rights movement.
Civil rights became my cause during those years, as it did yours, and has remained so ever since. We still strive, so many years later, to make the promise of America available to all her citizens.
I recall my mother helping me and my sisters whip up some last minute Halloween costumes. I became, with black face and a red bandana scarf "Aunt Jemima".
Horrifying to recall that that could have been in any way acceptable.
Empathy needs to be a pillar of our collective educations. The extreme lack of it produces a sociopath. I think there is a bit of "Mr. Hyde" in us all.
But..., such words ought not to be banned from our 'utilization' of them. And as for those POS's who would take what's written out-of-context...? I have some cement blocks and a chain and live near a deep river. Clearly, you understand that maintaining a "civil society" is important. Dumbing things down stifles education. Manners, politeness, civility. Kindness.
My NJ community was white. In grade school and high school desegregation came in the form of one black family. I was totally unaware of racism in our school as we had no minstrel shows. I do remember one friend's father making what I thought was a very unfunny comment at the table one night. My friend was horrified and whispered to me, "he is just kidding." I knew he wasn't.
My mother cried when Martin Luther King died. I had never traveled further south than Maryland so I thought the South was just poor people. When the Carter/Ford election came, my first time voting, although I was very down on Nixon and his pardon my distrust of the South prevailed over my distrust of a government that had recently been caught in numerous lies and I cast my vote for Ford. I was totally unaware that I carried my own prejudices.
My dad was a member of the Elks. I remember their doing a minstrel show I guess as a fund raiser for the mentally challenged. This would have been probably 60 years ago. My only encounter with such shows, but common at the time.
Our sense of what was amusing was very different in the 30s. Maybe many of you will not remember black and white movies, but blackface routines were simply part and parcel of entertainment.Stereo typing was so common we didn’t even recognize it. Al Jolson and Jimmy Cagney were popular movie attractions. To tell the truth we thought it all very innocent. For many this kind of exposure was our only acquaintance with black people. We didn’t get daily news on the television to reveal the truth. Lynching, segregation, extreme poverty were not topics of conversation for those of us still feeling the effects of the Depression. We were, quite simply, unaware. When we did wake up to reality we did our part for Civil Rights, for humanity. None of the above is meant to be an excuse for bad behavior, more of a comment on the media.
It's complicated. I never saw a minstrel show and somehow got the sense they were not respectable from pretty early on, but saw plenty of racist stuff in movies and TV, as well as out and about in northern Ohio. At the time it seemed innocuous. Some of that same cluelessness has surfaced over time, and I don't doubt that some of that early cluelessness is still with me.
People were focused on that great new invention called the “talkies”. They just wanted to laugh again after the Great Depression. I know I lived in a rarified atmosphere, but the people I knew did not think of that kind of entertainment as insulting to anyone. Neither would anyone I knew wear the flag or think of voting as anything less than a privilege and a duty. My neighbors lived within blocks, not within thousands of miles,so yes, attitudes were certainly parochial. Jet travel, even the interstate were some years in the future. We heard whatever classical music we knew on the radio, and we thought Bing Crosby was a fine, upstanding, family man. What did we know? Back then who would have dreamt that I would participate in sit-ins, or join the Teacher Corps?
Thank you Jean. It is understandable that there are readers and posters here on this forum who did not experience what you so truthfully and innocently recounted. Even to the extent of questioning how you can possibly relate that in such a non-remorseful manner or tone. At the same time, lots of people can't imagine that even well-traveled roads were still dirt and impassable in the 30's, 40's, 50', and into the civil-rights 60's. A lot of societies ills didn't travel farther than 25 miles (of mud) back then in a more rural America. The "mud" admittedly is different today, but still mud (or worse). Please consider that hindsight is so 20/20 and as kids (then or now) we are too busy with day-to-day "stuff" to fathom what the long term effect of our behavior 'might' be. No? Truth be damned, then. I can relate well to what you wrote.
Yes. I am 75 years old and raised in a small town near Scranton Pa. I saw at least two minstrel shows. One in the Catholic Youth Center and another performed by our student teacher in her farewell. Our town was all white but I did have an advantage in that for third and fourth grade my mother moved us to South Ozone Park on Queens N.Y where I attended PS 155 and was befriended by three classmates in particular ,Stanley, Edward and Edith. I was lonely and missed my hometown. Those three kids were so kind and welcoming to me. One moment stands out. While we were waiting “ on line” for the bell to ring for us to go to our classroom, Edward and Stanley Asked me to settle an argument they were having ; which one of them was blacker? Even as an eight year old it struck me as sad that these two kids saw being lighter skin was better. To think that something so much a part of you is something you don’t like.
My sense is that due to what I think, humans tend to be insecure hence the need to feel superior to the other. That is why we see forms of discrimination everywhere. We are more familiar with racial discrimination but elsewhere and historically it can and does take the form of religious discrimination, ethnic discrimination, etc. There always seems to be someone that one can feel superior to.
And it seems any “difference” can trigger aggression or exclusion. I remember a study, many years ago, when a researcher would paint a spot on a chicken, resulting in the rest of the flock pecking the “marked” bird - even to death. Something similar was done with moths and the unmarked moths would not mate with the marked ones.
I believe there is some inborn tendency to label “us” and “them.” A classroom experience separated the kids by eye color and ultimately had to be terminated when kids with the “better” eye color began bullying the “other” kids. But we can be better than moths and chickens and blue-eyed children. Why do we not choose to be?
I like to watch film and video from many different parts of the world, and one frequent feature of schoolyard scenes is nasty bullies. Perhaps it's in our genes, though it is also mitigated to a greater or lesser degree by society. What does bullying do for a society? What does bullying do to a society, let alone its victims? I read somewhere recently that a very high percentage of people sent to prison have a history of being abused. Perhaps an ounce of prevention is worth a great deal of unreliable "cure".
I read that most of the worst dictators, who cumulatively killed millions, were abused by a parent. Yet it doesn’t seem like preventing bullying or domestic/family violence is a very high priority, does it?
In my 12 years in the Medford, OR school system, I can only recall one Black student, and that was for half a year my junior year. My senior year, we put on a musical, "The US is Us" (it was, after all, the 1975-1976 school year, the "Bicentennial Year") and the only time I ever saw make-up used to turn a white person Black was when the choir featured a classmate as Harriet Tubman, who sang an amazing rendition of "Follow the Drinking Gourd".
Medford was and is racist as hell. At least no "minstrel shows". That I know of.
I started high school in 1964, in Milledgeville, GA. I had black classmates from then through graduation. It wasn’t forced integration, but voluntary desegregation, so my black classmates were there because they and their families wanted them to be. The white high school was acknowledged as better than the black high school, but our marching band couldn’t hold a candle to theirs, and the best singers in our high school chorus were black students. None of us white singers would have dared attempt “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, especially not in blackface, and not then.
The year after I graduated, the school systems consolidated, and a new, private, all white “academy” was established for students from racist white families who could afford the tuition. From my observation, this happened all over the south.
Oregon. A not much thought-about State, stuck between CA and WA, but kind of a nice place. Not that unlike Maine, just less frosty. However, seems to be pretty f'd up, by what I'm seeing and hearing. Glad it's far away on the Left coast. On Mars would be better, with only dead alien creatures to deal beat up on.
Ally, I moved *back* to Georgia, after 25 years in Buffalo, NY. My boys were young, I was widowed, and their cousins in GA and FL were strangers to them. Also, I got an offer for the job I had always wanted here. It worked out well for us, but the politics here is often frustrating as hell. Sorry, not sorry.
Apparently, the legislature never managed to draft enabling laws to enforce the constitutional provision. Even so, the effect was to declare Blacks unwelcome in Oregon.
I am told that the state's present-day racial demographics reflect that early policy.
I will risk throwing in here: in my country school we did a talent show, put together by students (1948?). All of us had sung spirituals all our lives and belonged to various Christian churches. We knew that back singers were the best, so we sang in black face which would put the best face on our quartet. I have been sad that no one is left to make that statement. I can still sing many verses of many spirituals and have “The Golden Book of Favorite Songs” which contains a lot of them. Music belongs to everyone. It’s survival and blessing through the ages. We still have Verdi’s Othello and I cherish minstrels black or black face.
Whewww!! Black gospel singers. Black churches and church-goers. Quite something to see or hear in person while living 'down South'. I remember in simplicity my mother playing the piano and us singing "Old Black Joe"; reading some of "Mark Twain" along with Homer's Odyssey, and Earth for Sam. Gentler times in my life. Now we have Cap'tn Underpants and the booger-man and guides to transitioning for pre-schoolers. together with Teacher U. graduates who can't spell Illeeadd by some homey. Gag me.., go ahead!
🤣 MadRussian, the liberal arts fell to the Koch brothers’ onslaught. But as Koch industries continues to flourish in Russia, I do wish they’d teach Putin that Russian composers are much better than his wars. At least that would give both Putin and Kochs a small pardon for their sins.
Teacher U graduates who taught me were really good. Now I read that education courses are multiple choice testing. Are fifth graders still taught ancient history? We were in my small country school.
I was watching a documentary on Jazz I think it was and they said. that many of the black gospel songs use only the black keys on the piano. I was really surprised at that and had to sit down at the piano to verify whether that was really true.
The few songs I played really did only use the black keys.
My experience in 1962-63 was that even Oregon promoted racism.
My first year of University was Fall Term at U of Oregon in Eugene. My next two terms were at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. What a big difference in the student body. It was a shock, to say the least that there were NO Black students at OSU. I found out that the Head of the Athletic Department and Head Coaches didn't allow any Black students on their teams and the OSU Administration followed the policy with their Scholarship policy. No Blacks got Scholarships. Or didn't meet the academic standards of OSU. You do realize that at that time that money talked as to who is accepted into University. No doubt it still does.
To this day, I still have a grudge against OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY for their bigotry. I don't think it has changed too much yet..
I have no chance to be racist. When I was in Albany Union High School, my father asked me to befriend two Black sisters and help them adjust to an all White school. I said, "Sure, Dad". Apparently as a Sophomore, I was helping to integrate my High School and didn't even realize it.
Thurgood Marshall applied to the University of Maryland Law School and was rejected (due to race). Its policy was among his first lawsuits once he became a trailblazing legal force and ultimately a Supreme Court Justice.
That Clarence Thomas sits in his seat is a disgrace.
What a terrible disaster was the Civil War. I was born and raised in Maryland, a segregated state the significance of which I didn’t comprehend until I was in an all white high school. Then I discovered that not far from where I lived was an all black community. The children wee all bused a long distance to an all black high school on the other side of the county. The University of Maryland was close to where I lived. Students there every year held so-called minstrel shows. They were very popular in their racial baiting of whites featured with black faces. Funny then but horrific as I matured into understanding about segregated
schools and in every aspect of our segregated society. Thankfully, as I went away to college and graduate school I was part of integrated situations including lasting friendships with black friends. Martin Luther King became the most influential person in my life. Civil rights became my cause including involvement as a Presbyterian minister with other church leaders of all faiths in the civil rights movement In Mississippi. That included a brief stay in the county jail of several of us. Thanks to Heather Cox Richardson, my favorite author these days, for her article above. Her daily articles are the first thing I read every morning.
Your post brought back memories of 70 years ago that are both fond and cringe-worthy. I was born and raised in Rhode Island, a state that was not segregated by law, but was so in practice. I attended a Catholic primary school that lay at the edge of a part of Providence that was rapidly changing to a mostly Black population. Every year the school put on a minstrel show involving all six grades, including my own. We had Mr. Bones, Mr. Interlocutor, the whole shebang. I can't remember if these "End Men" were in blackface or not, but I can remember that their jokes seemed funny, and the skill of these older kids was impressive to a seven-year old boy. The parents in the audience loved it, and the little kids, including me, had fun doing the show.
My England-born mother did have one Black friend, whom I met occasionally, but other than that I had no knowledge of or interaction with Black people. Just that they existed. We later moved to an all-white suburb, and I attended an all-white Catholic high school. It wasn't until I went to college that I had the opportunity to meet and interact with a number of Black students. It was not until then that it occurred to me that the minstrel show in which I had participated so many years before might have been offensive to Black people. This coincided with the rise of the Civil Rights movement.
Civil rights became my cause during those years, as it did yours, and has remained so ever since. We still strive, so many years later, to make the promise of America available to all her citizens.
This is an amazing personal story. How many others can still recount such awful minstrel shows demeaning another group of citizens?
I recall my mother helping me and my sisters whip up some last minute Halloween costumes. I became, with black face and a red bandana scarf "Aunt Jemima".
Horrifying to recall that that could have been in any way acceptable.
Other things we heard too are fortunately unacceptable today. Many things non white and American had nasty names attached.
Empathy needs to be a pillar of our collective educations. The extreme lack of it produces a sociopath. I think there is a bit of "Mr. Hyde" in us all.
But..., such words ought not to be banned from our 'utilization' of them. And as for those POS's who would take what's written out-of-context...? I have some cement blocks and a chain and live near a deep river. Clearly, you understand that maintaining a "civil society" is important. Dumbing things down stifles education. Manners, politeness, civility. Kindness.
When my daughter was three we got matching cow and calf costumes for Halloween. We both applied "white face".
Was that racist? Asking for a friend.😎
I’d call it applying white makeup. A cow is not a human.
😎
My NJ community was white. In grade school and high school desegregation came in the form of one black family. I was totally unaware of racism in our school as we had no minstrel shows. I do remember one friend's father making what I thought was a very unfunny comment at the table one night. My friend was horrified and whispered to me, "he is just kidding." I knew he wasn't.
My mother cried when Martin Luther King died. I had never traveled further south than Maryland so I thought the South was just poor people. When the Carter/Ford election came, my first time voting, although I was very down on Nixon and his pardon my distrust of the South prevailed over my distrust of a government that had recently been caught in numerous lies and I cast my vote for Ford. I was totally unaware that I carried my own prejudices.
Me. I had to be a part of a minstrel show in jr high. Of course I was too young and ignorant back then to realize the implication.
My dad was a member of the Elks. I remember their doing a minstrel show I guess as a fund raiser for the mentally challenged. This would have been probably 60 years ago. My only encounter with such shows, but common at the time.
Our sense of what was amusing was very different in the 30s. Maybe many of you will not remember black and white movies, but blackface routines were simply part and parcel of entertainment.Stereo typing was so common we didn’t even recognize it. Al Jolson and Jimmy Cagney were popular movie attractions. To tell the truth we thought it all very innocent. For many this kind of exposure was our only acquaintance with black people. We didn’t get daily news on the television to reveal the truth. Lynching, segregation, extreme poverty were not topics of conversation for those of us still feeling the effects of the Depression. We were, quite simply, unaware. When we did wake up to reality we did our part for Civil Rights, for humanity. None of the above is meant to be an excuse for bad behavior, more of a comment on the media.
It's complicated. I never saw a minstrel show and somehow got the sense they were not respectable from pretty early on, but saw plenty of racist stuff in movies and TV, as well as out and about in northern Ohio. At the time it seemed innocuous. Some of that same cluelessness has surfaced over time, and I don't doubt that some of that early cluelessness is still with me.
People were focused on that great new invention called the “talkies”. They just wanted to laugh again after the Great Depression. I know I lived in a rarified atmosphere, but the people I knew did not think of that kind of entertainment as insulting to anyone. Neither would anyone I knew wear the flag or think of voting as anything less than a privilege and a duty. My neighbors lived within blocks, not within thousands of miles,so yes, attitudes were certainly parochial. Jet travel, even the interstate were some years in the future. We heard whatever classical music we knew on the radio, and we thought Bing Crosby was a fine, upstanding, family man. What did we know? Back then who would have dreamt that I would participate in sit-ins, or join the Teacher Corps?
Thank you Jean. It is understandable that there are readers and posters here on this forum who did not experience what you so truthfully and innocently recounted. Even to the extent of questioning how you can possibly relate that in such a non-remorseful manner or tone. At the same time, lots of people can't imagine that even well-traveled roads were still dirt and impassable in the 30's, 40's, 50', and into the civil-rights 60's. A lot of societies ills didn't travel farther than 25 miles (of mud) back then in a more rural America. The "mud" admittedly is different today, but still mud (or worse). Please consider that hindsight is so 20/20 and as kids (then or now) we are too busy with day-to-day "stuff" to fathom what the long term effect of our behavior 'might' be. No? Truth be damned, then. I can relate well to what you wrote.
Yes. I am 75 years old and raised in a small town near Scranton Pa. I saw at least two minstrel shows. One in the Catholic Youth Center and another performed by our student teacher in her farewell. Our town was all white but I did have an advantage in that for third and fourth grade my mother moved us to South Ozone Park on Queens N.Y where I attended PS 155 and was befriended by three classmates in particular ,Stanley, Edward and Edith. I was lonely and missed my hometown. Those three kids were so kind and welcoming to me. One moment stands out. While we were waiting “ on line” for the bell to ring for us to go to our classroom, Edward and Stanley Asked me to settle an argument they were having ; which one of them was blacker? Even as an eight year old it struck me as sad that these two kids saw being lighter skin was better. To think that something so much a part of you is something you don’t like.
My sense is that due to what I think, humans tend to be insecure hence the need to feel superior to the other. That is why we see forms of discrimination everywhere. We are more familiar with racial discrimination but elsewhere and historically it can and does take the form of religious discrimination, ethnic discrimination, etc. There always seems to be someone that one can feel superior to.
And it seems any “difference” can trigger aggression or exclusion. I remember a study, many years ago, when a researcher would paint a spot on a chicken, resulting in the rest of the flock pecking the “marked” bird - even to death. Something similar was done with moths and the unmarked moths would not mate with the marked ones.
I believe there is some inborn tendency to label “us” and “them.” A classroom experience separated the kids by eye color and ultimately had to be terminated when kids with the “better” eye color began bullying the “other” kids. But we can be better than moths and chickens and blue-eyed children. Why do we not choose to be?
I like to watch film and video from many different parts of the world, and one frequent feature of schoolyard scenes is nasty bullies. Perhaps it's in our genes, though it is also mitigated to a greater or lesser degree by society. What does bullying do for a society? What does bullying do to a society, let alone its victims? I read somewhere recently that a very high percentage of people sent to prison have a history of being abused. Perhaps an ounce of prevention is worth a great deal of unreliable "cure".
I read that most of the worst dictators, who cumulatively killed millions, were abused by a parent. Yet it doesn’t seem like preventing bullying or domestic/family violence is a very high priority, does it?
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
—Martin Niemöller
Human Nature.., keep yer guard up Burt! Meanwhile: "onward" Christian soldiers....!
In my 12 years in the Medford, OR school system, I can only recall one Black student, and that was for half a year my junior year. My senior year, we put on a musical, "The US is Us" (it was, after all, the 1975-1976 school year, the "Bicentennial Year") and the only time I ever saw make-up used to turn a white person Black was when the choir featured a classmate as Harriet Tubman, who sang an amazing rendition of "Follow the Drinking Gourd".
Medford was and is racist as hell. At least no "minstrel shows". That I know of.
I started high school in 1964, in Milledgeville, GA. I had black classmates from then through graduation. It wasn’t forced integration, but voluntary desegregation, so my black classmates were there because they and their families wanted them to be. The white high school was acknowledged as better than the black high school, but our marching band couldn’t hold a candle to theirs, and the best singers in our high school chorus were black students. None of us white singers would have dared attempt “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, especially not in blackface, and not then.
The year after I graduated, the school systems consolidated, and a new, private, all white “academy” was established for students from racist white families who could afford the tuition. From my observation, this happened all over the south.
And we still have a long way to go.
We do, indeed.
Makes one wonder how that song got into the show. Who did they think was travelin’ that muddy road to freedom?
The town is racist. Not the music department at the high school.
Oregon. A not much thought-about State, stuck between CA and WA, but kind of a nice place. Not that unlike Maine, just less frosty. However, seems to be pretty f'd up, by what I'm seeing and hearing. Glad it's far away on the Left coast. On Mars would be better, with only dead alien creatures to deal beat up on.
We're kind of stuck on ourselves; it really is a decent place to live...
Ally, I moved *back* to Georgia, after 25 years in Buffalo, NY. My boys were young, I was widowed, and their cousins in GA and FL were strangers to them. Also, I got an offer for the job I had always wanted here. It worked out well for us, but the politics here is often frustrating as hell. Sorry, not sorry.
Russian:
I am pretty sure that the original state constitution of Oregon included an exclusionary clause intended to discourage Blacks from settling in the state. See https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/exclusion_laws/.
Apparently, the legislature never managed to draft enabling laws to enforce the constitutional provision. Even so, the effect was to declare Blacks unwelcome in Oregon.
I am told that the state's present-day racial demographics reflect that early policy.
\Vince S
I will risk throwing in here: in my country school we did a talent show, put together by students (1948?). All of us had sung spirituals all our lives and belonged to various Christian churches. We knew that back singers were the best, so we sang in black face which would put the best face on our quartet. I have been sad that no one is left to make that statement. I can still sing many verses of many spirituals and have “The Golden Book of Favorite Songs” which contains a lot of them. Music belongs to everyone. It’s survival and blessing through the ages. We still have Verdi’s Othello and I cherish minstrels black or black face.
Whewww!! Black gospel singers. Black churches and church-goers. Quite something to see or hear in person while living 'down South'. I remember in simplicity my mother playing the piano and us singing "Old Black Joe"; reading some of "Mark Twain" along with Homer's Odyssey, and Earth for Sam. Gentler times in my life. Now we have Cap'tn Underpants and the booger-man and guides to transitioning for pre-schoolers. together with Teacher U. graduates who can't spell Illeeadd by some homey. Gag me.., go ahead!
🤣 MadRussian, the liberal arts fell to the Koch brothers’ onslaught. But as Koch industries continues to flourish in Russia, I do wish they’d teach Putin that Russian composers are much better than his wars. At least that would give both Putin and Kochs a small pardon for their sins.
And do read the article in the Atlantic about the WWII sailor who believed in the liberal arts education.
Teacher U graduates who taught me were really good. Now I read that education courses are multiple choice testing. Are fifth graders still taught ancient history? We were in my small country school.
Interesting Virginia.
I was watching a documentary on Jazz I think it was and they said. that many of the black gospel songs use only the black keys on the piano. I was really surprised at that and had to sit down at the piano to verify whether that was really true.
The few songs I played really did only use the black keys.
It may be because people who play by ear tend to use black keys. Sung music gets transposed for various voices or combinations of voices.
Thanks for this thoughtful remembrance of your past. We have much in common.
My experience in 1962-63 was that even Oregon promoted racism.
My first year of University was Fall Term at U of Oregon in Eugene. My next two terms were at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. What a big difference in the student body. It was a shock, to say the least that there were NO Black students at OSU. I found out that the Head of the Athletic Department and Head Coaches didn't allow any Black students on their teams and the OSU Administration followed the policy with their Scholarship policy. No Blacks got Scholarships. Or didn't meet the academic standards of OSU. You do realize that at that time that money talked as to who is accepted into University. No doubt it still does.
To this day, I still have a grudge against OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY for their bigotry. I don't think it has changed too much yet..
I have no chance to be racist. When I was in Albany Union High School, my father asked me to befriend two Black sisters and help them adjust to an all White school. I said, "Sure, Dad". Apparently as a Sophomore, I was helping to integrate my High School and didn't even realize it.
We grew up with unconsciously red-lined minds in our all white neighborhoods and schools.
Thurgood Marshall applied to the University of Maryland Law School and was rejected (due to race). Its policy was among his first lawsuits once he became a trailblazing legal force and ultimately a Supreme Court Justice.
That Clarence Thomas sits in his seat is a disgrace.